A young Dublin telecoms firm has revealed that it plans to expand into central Europe after identifying significant business opportunities among the new accession states. Dublin-based Pure Telecom aims to serve the Central and Eastern European SOHO and SME market from new offices in Vienna.
The company aim to offer businesses in the new accession states bespoke telecom and internet services to the corporate, SME and SOHO (small office, home office) market.
The services it plans to offer include fixed line and mobile voice services (local and long distance), high speed internet access solutions (including DSL, wireless, satellite and leased line) combined with managed services and support.
Paul Connell, director of Pure Telecom, quoting last year’s EC Directorate-General Information Society Report, said the telecoms market for the European accession states was valued at €30bn in 2002, up from about €25bn in 2001, and continues to grow. The competition from alternative operators in many of these countries is still very low. Initially Pure Telecom will target Poland and Hungary, employing four people in sales and support roles with plans to increase this to 20 by the end of the year.
Established in 2002, Pure Telecom currently employs 16 people and describes itself as a profitable, Irish, privately owned company. The company’s customers include indigenous organisations in the private and public sector including major pharmaceutical companies, professional bodies, financial institutions and Government bodies.
Connell explains: “In Ireland we have already proven to be a reliable and viable alternative to the major players when it comes to business telecommunications services. We want to be able to offer the same high quality, low cost, customer focused solutions to other businesses within Europe and bring the real and actual cost of telephone calls and internet access to them.”
Connell continues: “We chose Austria for two reasons – its geographical location and familiarity. It is central enough to service all of the new accession states and having worked there before I am familiar with the market and companies already working in the telecoms sector.”
Prior to setting up Pure Telecom, Connell worked as financial director for Hutchinson 3G Austria, a subsidiary of Hutchinson Whampoa, one of the world’s leading owners and operators of telecommunications and internet infrastructure. Connell was primarily responsible for establishing and managing the highly complex financial operations for the company’s 3G operation in Austria and was instrumental in growing the workforce from two people to 450 in one year.
Fellow director of Pure Telecom, Alan McGonnell added: “At the start of this year we made a conscious decision to invest in expanding our business to facilitate the growing demand for our services. In Ireland we have just relocated to larger offices and taken on additional staff members. We want to widen our reach further, hence the decision to start a new operation in Austria.
“If we can be successful in Ireland why not strive to achieve this same success further afield. Our specific aim is to provide a ‘One-Stop-Shop’ for Irish and European businesses, and take the headache out of managing what many would consider a time-consuming overhead,” McGonnell said.
By John Kennedy
